|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Royal 20 B XX
|
|
|
|
| Title |
Historia de proelis in a French translation (Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre) |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
c. 1420 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
Attributed to the Master of the Royal Alexander |
| Decoration |
86 two or one-column miniatures in colours and gold, with partial borders, at the beginning of each chapter, some with traces of preliminary sketches for illuminators (e.g., ff. 83, 86, 92). Foliate initials in colours and gold with extensions. Small initials in gold on blue and rose grounds with penwork decoration in white, and line-fillers in blue, rose and gold with penwork decoration in white in the list of contents section (ff. 1-2v). |
| Dimensions in mm |
284 x 195 (200 x 125, in two columns) |
| Official foliation |
ff. i + 97 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end; f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Royal library binding of brown leather with the royal arms and a date of 1757. |
| Provenance |
Added sketch in Indian ink of two horses and fighting knights, 15th century (f. 53v).
Henry VIII (b. 1491, d. 1547), king of England and Ireland: the monogram 'HR' [for Henricus Rex] (f. i).
?Shelfmark of a very large number in brown ink (Carley's 'Old Large Number') '73' (f. i).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): Westminster inventory number 'no. 475' (f. i), included in the inventory of books in the Upper Library at Westminster of 1542; and perhaps in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 11.
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Illuminated by the Master of the Royal Alexander (formerly confused with the Harvard Hannibal Master, see Backhouse 2004), active in Paris and Normandy (Rouen?); other manuscripts illuminated by him include a Book of Hours of Rouen use (Baltimore, Walter Art Gallery W. 259), and a Book of Hours of Sarum use (Sloane 2468) perhaps made in Rouen for the English market (see Reynolds 1994).
The text in Old French, the Vraye histoire du bon roy Alexandre is passed on the Historia Alexandri Magni de preliis, written in the 10th century by the Neopolitan archpriest Leo. |
| Select bibliography |
H. L. D. Ward and J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1883-1910), I, p. 128.
H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits français des rois d'Angleterre au château de Richmond', in Etudes romanes dédiés à Gaston Paris (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1891), pp. 1-13 (p. 11).
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), II (2), pp. 369-70.
D. J. A. Ross, 'Olympias and the Serpent: The Interpretation of a Baalbek Mosaic and the Date of the Illustrated Pseudo-Callisthenes', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 26 (1963) 1-21 (p. 15, fig. 5d).
Loren MacKinney, Medical Illustrations in Medieval Manuscripts, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 5, 2 parts bound together (London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1965), with Thomas Herndon, Part II, Medical Miniatures in Extant Manuscripts: A Checklist, no. 67.
D. J. A. Ross, Alexander and the Faithless Lady: A Submarine Adventure, An Inaugural lecture delivered at Birkbeck College, London, 7th November 1967 (London: Ruddock and Sons, 1967), pp. 8, 15, fig. 3.
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Late XIV Century and the Patronage of the Duke, 2 vols, National Gallery of Art Kress Foundation Studies in the History of European Art, 2 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1967), I, p. 391, etc.
John E. Murdoch, Album of Science: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. by I. B. Cohen (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1984), no. 163.
David J. A. Ross, Studies in the Alexander Romance (London: Pindar, 1985), pp. 173, 181, 259, 353, 364, 386-87, 395, 398.
Catherine Reynolds, 'English Patrons and French Artists in Fifteenth Century Normandy', in England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, ed. by D. Bates and A. Curry (London: Hambledon Press, 1994), pp. 299-313 (p. 304).
Janet Backhouse, 'Illuminated Manuscripts Associated with Henry VII and Members of his Immediate Family', in The Reign of Henry VII: Proceedings of the 1993 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Benjamin Thompson (Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1995), pp. 175-87 (p. 180, n. 19).
V. M. Schmidt, A Legend and its Image: The Aerial Flight of Alexander the Great in Medieval Art (Groningen, 1995), cat. no. 46, pp.185-86 [exhibition catalogue].
Scot McKendrick, The History of Alexander the Great: An Illuminated Manuscript of Vasco da Lucena's French Translation of the Ancient Text by Quintus Curtius Rufus (Los Angeles, 1996), fig.1.
The Mythical Quest: In Search of Adventure, Romance and Enlightenment, intro. by Penelope Lively (London: British Library, 1996), pl. on p. 40.
J. P. Carley, 'Marks in Books and the Libraries of Henry VIII', Papers-Bibliographical Society of America, 91 (1997), 583-606 (pp. 604, 606).
C. W. Dutschke, 'The Truth in the Book: The Marco Polo Texts in Royal 19.D.I and Bodley 264', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 52 (1998) 278-99 (p. 298).
The Image of Time: European Manuscript Books (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, 2000), no. 62 [exhibition catalogue].
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), H2.298.
D. J. A. Ross and M. A. Stones, 'The Roman d’Alexandre in French Prose: Another Illustrated Manuscript from Champagne or Flanders c. 1300', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relatives aux manuscrits, 56 (2002), 345-56 (p. 346).
Sophie Page, Magic in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2004), pp. 1 (half-title page), 11-14, 64, pl. 8-9.
Elizabeth Morrison, Beasts: Factual & Fantastic (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2007), pp. 78-79.
Margaret Scott, Medieval Dress & Fashion (London: British Library, 2007), pl. 83.
Maud Pérez-Simon, Mise en roman, mise en image: Les manuscrits du Roman d'Alexandre en prose (Paris: Champion, 2011), pp. 264, 268, 375.
Scot McKendrick, John Lowden and Kathleen Doyle, Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination (London: British Library, 2011), no. 75 [exhibition catalogue].
The Romance of Alexander / Der Pariser Alexanderroman: Royal 20 B. XX, The British Library, London, with contributions by Joanna Fronska, Maud Pérez-Simon and Siegbert Himmelsbach, 2 vols (Lucerne: Quaternio, 2014) [facsimile with commentary].
Gregory T. Clark, Art in a Time of War (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2016), pp. 286, 288. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
f. 1
The author reading |
f. 3
Astronomy and geometry |
f. 4
Nectanebus |
| |
f. 4v
Nectanebus |
f. 7
Olympias enthroned |
f. 8v
Nectanebus |
| |
f. 8v
Nectanebus |
f. 9v
Philip |
f. 10v
Aristotle and Alexander |
| |
f. 10v
Aristotle and Alexander |
f. 10v
Aristotle and Alexander |
f. 11
Nectanebus |
| |
f. 12
Alexander, Aristotle and Bucephalus |
f. 12
Alexander, Aristotle and Bucephalus |
f. 13v
Victory of Alexander |
| |
f. 14
Alexander crowned |
f. 15
Philip |
f. 16v
Defeat of Philip |
| |
f. 18
Alexander defeating Pausanias |
f. 18v
Alexander enthroned |
f. 19v
Alexander and his army |
| |
f. 20
Alexander and his fleet |
f. 20
Alexander and his fleet |
f. 21
Building of Alexandria |
| |
f. 22
Destruction of Tyre |
f. 23
Alexander at the Temple |
f. 24
Alexander |
| |
f. 26v
Alexander |
f. 27
Alexander and Olympias |
f. 29v
Alexander |
| |
f. 30v
Battle with the Persians |
f. 33
Battle with the Persians |
f. 34
Surrender of a city |
| |
f. 36v
Alexander's army |
f. 38
Murder of Darius |
f. 38v
Burial of Darius |
| |
f. 39v
Murderers of Darius |
f. 40v
Alexander |
f. 41v
Albanians |
| |
f. 44v
Battle of Alexander and Porrus |
f. 47v
Alexander and the Amazons |
f. 47v
Alexander and the Amazons |
| |
f. 49v
Battle with dragons |
f. 49v
Battle with dragons |
f. 50
Alexander |
| |
f. 50
Alexander |
f. 50v
Battle with white lions |
f. 51
Battle with boars and savages |
| |
f. 51
Battle with boars and savages |
f. 51v
Battle with a three-horned beast |
f. 53
Alexander and Porrus |
| |
f. 53
Alexander and Porrus |
f. 53v
Warriors and horses |
f. 54
Alexander and Porrus |
| |
f. 54v
Burial of Porrus |
f. 55v
Alexander |
f. 56
Battle with a hippopotamus |
| |
f. 57
Alexander |
f. 58
Alexander |
f. 58v
Alexander |
| |
f. 60
Alexander |
f. 62v
Alexander |
f. 63
Battle with giants |
| |
f. 64
Alexander and the wild man |
f. 65
Alexander |
f. 66
Alexander |
| |
f. 66
Alexander |
f. 67v
Capture of Candaculus' wife |
f. 68v
Restoration of Candaculus' wife |
| |
f. 70
Candace and Alexander |
f. 71v
Candace and Alexander |
f. 71v
Candace and Alexander |
| |
f. 73
Battle against dragons |
f. 73v
Battle against wild bulls |
f. 75v
Ambria |
| |
f. 76v
Alexander being carried by griffins |
f. 76v
Alexander being carried by griffins |
f. 77v
Alexander lowered into the sea |
| |
f. 77v
Alexander lowered into the sea |
f. 78
Battle with sword-horned men |
f. 78v
Battle with sheep-horned dragons |
| |
f. 79
Battle with horse-headed men |
f. 79v
Battle with one-eyed giants (cyclops) |
f. 80
Battle with blemmyae |
| |
f. 80v
Battle with lion-like beasts |
f. 81
Burial of Bucephalus |
f. 81
Burial of Bucephalus |
| |
f. 82
Memorial to Bucephalus |
f. 82v
Alexander and elephants |
f. 82v
Alexander and elephants |
| |
f. 83
Alexander and caladrius birds |
f. 83v
Battle with two-headed dragons |
f. 84
Entry of Alexander |
| |
f. 85
Alexander sending letters |
f. 85v
Aristotle sending a letter |
f. 86v
Birth of a monstrous child |
| |
f. 88v
Jobas poisoning Alexander |
f. 88v
Jobas poisoning Alexander |
f. 89
Alexander |
| |
f. 92
Funeral of Alexander |
f. 94v
Burning of a city |
f. 97
Capture of Pydna |
| |
|
|
|
|
